The CookingBites recipe challenge: tomatoes

Morning Glory said:
That worries me. If you have never eaten or tasted it then why the prejudice?
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Well, for a start, tofu simply did not exist in my world growing up. Never even heard of it until probably the late '80's, and then when I did, it wasn't presented as, "Hey, look at this interesting item that more and more, health-conscious people are experimenting with!"

No, it was marched out as everything that was wrong with whatever the current "younger" generation was at that time (Gen Y?), as in, "Look at what all these freaky weirdo tree-hugging nuts want us to eat now, just to 'save the whales,' or whatever their latest crazy kick is!"

After a while, that stuff wears off on you, not to the point that I think people who eat tofu are freaky weirdo tree-hugging nuts, but just that tofu is something you eat because you want to do the "right" thing, not because you actually enjoy it.

Even my militant-vegan niece won't touch the stuff, and she makes fondue out of nuts and swears it's good. 🤨

It's just had way, way, way too much negative press, AFAIC, and I'm definitely not curious about it. There are plenty of things I already know I like to eat, I don't feel a big push to add something new, unless there's an overwhelming reason to, like if they discovered a new kind of tiny bite-sized pig or something like that, like a pig that's the size of a grasshopper, and you can just flash-fry him whole, bones and all, and eat that. I'd try that.
 
Just pick whatever you want, MG. I don't have to like it. I can sit one out, if I don't, and not be offended at all. When I have had to pick an ingredient, the pressure to pick something that everyone is happy with has been annoying. It somewhat makes me hope I don't win a challenge.

Just pick something you want to judge.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Just pick whatever you want, MG. I don't have to like it. I can sit one out, if I don't, and not be offended at all. When I have had to pick an ingredient, the pressure to pick something that everyone is happy with has been annoying. It somewhat makes me hope I don't win a challenge.

Just pick something you want to judge.

CD
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I was just testing the water (as they say).

I'm temped to choose tofu. After all, I was a winner of a national comp here by Home - Tofoo back in 2018 and had a recipe card included in their box. See here: I'm a Tofoo Legend!. The recipe appeared on CookingBites first. Who says tofu is boring! This was alcoholic tofu. :D

However, I'm going to say the ingredient is root vegetables (including tubers). Lots of scope there for main dishes or side dishes.
 
Morning Glory said:
I was just testing the water (as they say).

I'm temped to choose tofu. After all, I was a winner of a national comp here by Home - Tofoo back in 2018 and had a recipe card included in their box. See here: I'm a Tofoo Legend!. The recipe appeared on CookingBites first. Who says tofu is boring! This was alcoholic tofu. :D

However, I'm going to say the ingredient is root vegetables (including tubers). Lots of scope there for main dishes or side dishes.
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I think you are going to get just what you want out of this ingredient. Some of us will put out maybe 1-2 recipes and some who don't participate much might join in the fun for a change, maybe several times, so there will probably not be an overload of recipes from the same people, but instead a fresh range of perspectives.
 
TastyReuben said:
...like if they discovered a new kind of tiny bite-sized pig or something like that, like a pig that's the size of a grasshopper, and you can just flash-fry him whole, bones and all, and eat that. I'd try that.
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When we were in Mexico my husband ate fried grasshoppers (or crickets, I can't remember). They didn't clean them or anything, he ate them guts and all. Up here people do that with these little fish called smelts. They are about 3-6 inches long usually. They are breaded and fried. Some folks remove the heads and gut them (some don't), but everyone eats the bones, fins, and skin. Disgusting, ugh. To me, that's baitfish!
 
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karadekoolaid said:
First of all, thank you all so much for your contributions, especially as (a) tomatoes are mostly out of season and (b) Xmas and New Year were rather important distractions!
It was a great honour for me to judge my first Cooking Bites Challenge and I was duly impressed with the 25 entries received. The challenge was "Tomatoes", and that meant there was a single criterion in my decision: the recipe had to be a tomato dish, a dish where the tomatoes were the principal ingredient, rather than a dish where tomatoes were part of the bigger picture. Consequently, the five contenders were Morning Glory ´s Keralan Tomato Curry, TastyReuben ´s Tomato Fritters, hemulen´s Tomato Buns and Elizabeth´s Tomato Puff Pastry Tart & Tomato Confit.
However, before I announce the winner, I´d like to give a special mention to FIVE recipes that, while they didn´t meet my specific criterion, looked absolutely delicious and will be prepared in my house in due course:
JAS ´s Chilean Seabass. Yummy!
Kanohegirlinaz ´s Lomi Lomi salmon - simple, very unusual and eye-catching.
Murphy´s Creek - both the Tuscan butter shrimp and the Tuscan chicken. Right up my street, especially since my wife is half-Italian!
Windigo´s Pasta alla Bruno. I love pasta, and I don´t know who Bruno is, but he´s got an eye for good combinations.

RIGHT!! without more ado - the final decision was between the Keralan Tomato Curry and the Tomato Puff Pastry Tart, and it was a very tough decision, but I´m going with the Keralan Tomato Curry.
Well done Morning Glory, and over to you for the next challenge.
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Thanks for the honorable mention.
 
Congratulations, Morning Glory - and a tasty winning pick, karadekoolaid!
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I was secretly hoping for root vegetables or a single root vegetable to be picked as the next challenge ingredient :hyper:.
 
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